I keep saying “If I knew what I was doing I could get a job somewhere.”

And last night I had one of those forehead-slapping “Duh!” moments.

This is a sweater I knit several years ago:

It is overwide and undertall and I really didn’t like it when it was done.  I think I’ve actually worn it twice… maybe?  But that’s okay:  it has (finally?) served a purpose.  It has given me the basic patterning sequence I was looking for to use for the shawl project, so I don’t have to fiddle with coordinating bands of motifs or anything like that.

Check out the pattern sequence here:

Do you see it?   EVERY color has 3 rows with a row in between.  Every color is bordered by two other colors, which fill in the in-between rows.   Totally randomized, in that I was working with dozens of balls of worsted wt. Peruvian wool, and just plucked a different ball when it was time to change colors.

I can do the same thing in this shawl I’ve been agonizing over (and starting and ripping out).  And there are some interesting slip stitch designs I can incorporate to break up the monotony of ‘just plain stripes’.   But I don’t have to use two colors per row.  Not only will that make for a lighter shawl, but less-congested fringes.

Happy-happy-joy-joy!

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